Undercutting bucket



July 5, 1938. M. R. PECK UNDERCUTTING BUCKET Filed Aug. l, 1936 /N VEN TOR MATT R. PECK /QWW uw A TT ORNE Y Patented July 5, 1938 l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE UNDERCUTTING BUCKET Matt R. Peck, Gardena, Calif., assignor of onehalf to Benjamin E.

Bertran and one-half to Josie A. Bertran, both of Los Angeles, Calif.

Application August 1,

9 Claims.

with some suitable type of'drilling tool and the enlarged cavity at its lower end may be made by the use of under kcutting tools or under reamers. These structures often are difficult to handle and'manipulatewithin the bore, and do not always insure that the earth which is cut away to form the enlarged base of the bore may be conveniently removed. It is theA principal object of the present invention Yto provide aboring tool embodying an under cutting bucket in its construction wherebya straight bore hole of uniform diameter maybe made and an enlarged space created at the bottom of the bore or at any point along itslength as controlled and manipulated byV the'operator at the top ofthe bore. The structure also embodies simple means for Vcatching thev cuttings 'an-d'V permitting the cuttings to be removed from the bottom of thebore hole.

' The present invention` contemplates the provision ofV a guide cylinder adapted to yextend into a bore hole as carried by a drill stern. Secured to the lower end ofthe guide cylinder" is an under cutting bucket which is articulately connected theretoior lateral swinging movement, and which maybe disposed at a desiredangle to the vertical and thus'held while an under cutting operation is carried'out, the bucket carrying blades by which lthe earth maybe cut and the cuttings being diverted into the bucket.

' The invention 'isillustr'ated by way of example inthe accompanying drawing in which:

AFigure 1 is a lview in vertical section and elevation with parts broken away "and showing the application ofthe' present invention to a well bore. Y

Fig. 2 is a view in vertical'section through the under cutting bucket as'seen on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. `3 is a view in elevation showing the structure with which the present invention is concerned as viewed in the direction of the arrow 3 inFig.1. Fig. 4 is a'view in transverse section through the under cutting bucket as seen on the line 4--4 of Fig. 1.` Y Y f Referringmore particularly to the drawing Ill indicates ay Kelly bar which is preferably square lin cross section at the lower end of which is a drill string coupling II by which a drill string or a -drill bar I2 is4 attached to the Kelly bar. The bar VI Il extends through a conforming square hole 193s, serial No. 93,819

(ol. ass-:74)

in a rotary table I3 and is therefore driven thereby while having vertical movement with relation thereto. The rotary table may be of any desired design and is here shown as fitted with a gear I4 engaged by a pinion I5 and driven from a suity able source of supply through a shaft I6. Suspended from the rotary table is a guide cylinder I1 which is supported by an operating rod I8. The upper end of this rod is fitted with a nut I9 holding it with relation to the table, and at its lower end with a nut or head 20 which extends through the upper end plate 2| of the guide cylinder I'l. The lower end of the guide cylinder I7 is iitted with an end spider 22 having a central hub 23 therethrough and through which the drill stem I2 extends. The terminating end of the drill stem I2 is provided with a transverse pin 24 carrying rollers 25, one of which is positioned on each side of the drill stem I2, as particularly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The rollers extend into grooves 26 between trackways 21 and 28. These trackways are mounted across the upper end of the under cutting bucket* 29. The under cutting bucket is substantially cylindrical and is hinged to the spider 22 of the guide cylinder I'I by suitable hinge 30 mounted at one edge of the cylinder. By reference to Fig. 1 of the drawing it will be seen that the lower end of the bucket is disposed obliquely to its central longitudinal axis so that the outer swinging portion of the wall of the bucket is longer than the inner edge and so that a pointed nose 3| will be formed. The bottom of the bucket is closed by two members, one being a bottom plate 32 and the other being a blade 33. The blade is disposed at an angle to the plane of the bottom plate, as particularly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, so that a throat 34 will occur between the central edges of the blade and the plate to ac commodate the cuttings created by the advance of the cutting edge 35 of the blade. It will be understood that the cutting edge 35 occurs on the center line of the bucket and that a longitudinally extending slot 3S is formed through the side wall of the bucket, one edge of the slot being tted with a side cutting blade 3l. This blade occurs on the long side of the bucket 29 so that it will assume a downwardly and outwardly extending position to undercut the side wall of the bore 38 and form an outwardly aring wall 39 to create a space 40 for the footing which is to be made. At the same time it will be seen that the cutting edge 35 of the blade 33 will assume a substantially horizontal position to cut a at floor 4I at the bottom of the bore. The floor plate 32 is hinged at 42 to the cylindrical wall of the bucket 29 and is temporarily held inits hinged position by a fastening 43,

In operation of the present invention the structure is assembled substantially as shown in Fig. l

' of the drawing. When the bore 33 of the excavation has reaehed a desired depth the device may be liiwered into the bore with the rod I supp-ortingthe bucket, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Thedrill rod I2 may then be rotated by the gear I4 carrying with it'the Kelly bar llllrand` Y drill bar i2 which revolves the guide Il nand. bucket 29, the Weight of the vKelly bar and drill rod tending to force the bucket outwardly on an incline, anniY as this is accomplished the handle lill of the rod 8 is held so that :as the drill stem I2 is Qiorced downwardly it will act througlg the rollers 25 and guides 2l to force the; lower end of the bucket 29 outwardly as it on its hinge 3Q.' As the cutting operation proceeds the blade 3T will cut the inclined face 39 andthe blade 35 will cut the horizontal face'fll of the footing space 4U. It will be seen that as this operation proceeds the Qcuttings'will bef-forced into the bucket and may thereafter be removed as the bucket is withdrawn from the bore. Attentionis also dirented to the fact that the cylindrical guidesleevev I'i bears such a relation to the diameter of the bore 38 as to stabilize thebucket its operation and to make it possible to move vand swing the under cutting bucket outwardly and to hold it so that its cutting blade 37 will be maintained in cutting relation. K

Attention is also directed to the fact that f urther cutting of a cylindrical hole may be preformed after the'original hole has been under- ,Y blades to under cut the excavation bore and decut.

It willithus be seen that the structure here disclosed is simplev in construction and may be readily operated to undercut a bore in an excavation by the same rotary driving operation mechanism as is used to form the main bore.

While I have Vshown the preferred form of my invention as now known to me, itwill be understood that various changes might be made in the combination, construction, and arrangement of parts by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Having thusA described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A digging tool comprising driving means, a .dirt receiving member carried thereby and adapted to swing from a position vertically aligned with the rotary axis of the digging tool to a position downwardly and outwardly flaring with relation thereto, a blade on the side oic said dirt receiving member adapted to cutAan inclined face on the side wall of the bore within which the digging tool is operating and to deliver the cuttings into the receiving member and means operative from the top or the well to swing and maintain the dirt receiving member in cutting and noncutting positions. l

2. A digging tool comprising guide means adapted to extend longitudinally within theAbore of an excavation,` means for rotating the same, an under cutting bucket hinged to the lower end of the guide means, means for swinging the under cutting bucket from longitudinally aligned positions to angularly disposed positions, and cutting blades on said bucket to cut walls of the excavation and to direct-the cuttings into the bucket.

3. A' digging tool comprising guide means adapted to extend longitudinally within the bore .n positions to angularly disposed positions, cut-ting blades on said bucket to cut walls of the excavation and to direct the cuttings into the bucket, and means for releasing the cuttings frogn the bucket. i-i

fl. vA boring tool comprising guide means to extend withinV the bore of ai; excavation, means for rotating the same, and a'bucket carried 'at the lower end of said guide, said bucket being formed articulate means connecting the bucket-to the H' Yguide means, and means operable from the top of the well :for swinging the bucketrlaterally of the longitudinal axis of the guide and the bore to thereby selectively undeIi-cut the bore.

5. A boring tool comprising aV guide cylinder adapted to extend for a distance within a bored hole, means supporting the cylinder from the top of the hole-and by which itmay be raised, islowered and rotated, ka drill stem extending downwardly and reciprocating through said cylinder', any under cutting bucket pivoted to the flower end of said cylinder and-*operatively connected with the drill stein whereby relative movement of the vdrill stem 'with relation to the guide cylinder will cause the under cutting bucket to swing toward and away from positions of ver; tical alignment with the cylinder, said bucket being formed with openings in its wall, and cutv posit the cuttings within the bucket to be removed therewith.

6. A digging tool comprising, in combination with a rotary driving rtablaa drill stem operatively associated therewith and extending downwardly into a well bore, a guide cylinder slidably mounted uponl the drill stem, means supporting the guide cylinder from the rotary table whereby the position of the cylinder with relation to` the drill stem may be verticallyadjusted, an under cuttingl bucket substantially cylindrical in section and normally disposed with its central axis in longitudinal alignment with theY central axis of the guide cylinder and hinged to one edge thereof, means operatively connecting said 1bucket with the drill string whereby relative longitudinal movement of the guide sleeve and the drill string will produce swinging movement of the under cutting bucket, and cutting blades carried by the under cutting bucket for cutting an under cut bucket provided with cutting blades.

8. A boring tool including guide means tonextendwithin the bore of an excavation, means for rotating the same, means for supporting the same in the excavation, and a bucket pivoted at ,the lower end of said guide at one side thereof whereby it .will swing laterally with the longitudinal axis of the guide and the bore, said bucket provided with cutting blades.

9. A boring tool including guide means to extend within the bore of an excavation, means for rotating the same, means for supporting the same in the excavation, a bucket pivoted at the lower end of said guide at one side thereof whereby it will swing laterally with the longitudinal axis of the guide and the bore, and cutter means extending from the walls of said bucket.

MAT'I R. PECK. 

